Dark side of the Red moon
by Shasuka
Summary: The entire world was given the option to come back, hard to believe that out off the billions of people that were alive during the events of third impact only two would decide to come back.
1. Prelude

Dark side of the (red) moon

Chapter 1 – Prelude.

''Do you want to become one with me?''

''No...''

''Do you want to become one with me?''

''No...''

''Do you want to beco-''

''NO.''

''If you want to go back, you must first achieve inner peace, but outside, every one is seperated by invisible barriers, that force people to hurt each other, is that a world you want to live in?''

''our... our individuality makes us human, to strip that from me, from every body, to strip us of our humanity...''

''I understand''

One could escape instrumentality if he could imagine himself within is heart.

**Splash**

''I... I feel wet... but... I feel...''

He was back, back in the world that had caused him so much pain, but it was the world he loved.

He was slowly floating in a small pool of LCL, but he could see the sun and feel it's heat, he could feel the warm summer breeze, the stench of LCL, but he was back, and that's all it mattered to him, he looked around and realized he had awoken in the local hot springs, it didn't feel so relaxing any more.

He slowly swam to solid ground, and with all his strenghts he pulled himself up and sat on the nearest bench, he looked up...

The clouds above him were a mix of pink and orange, beyond them he could see a thick red ring.

''Are thos-'' he was interrupted by the sudden raining.

''Eh... it's raining'' he had a small grin on his face, like the rain was relaxing him, and then it hit him.

He got up as fast as he could in his condition and got to cover in the nearby building, the paint was falling of the wall, along with the wall itself, there was a slight crack on the ceiling where rain and sun could penetrate through, and sun provided what little lighting there was.

He tried to switch on the lights, to no effect, the power was out.

''It's raining blood...''

The sudden realization that the rain drops were pink startled him, naturally, it was raining blood, blood belonging to comrades, family members and people he once knew, and they were all raining on top of him, like a cruel prank from mother nature, to wake him up and make him realize something very important, everyone was dead, as he once was.

''It's raining blood'' he said, whimpering, squatting down on the humid floor, he'd never been startled by blood, in fact he was used to it, but it wasn't just anyones blood, it's everyones blood.

The rain stopped shortly after, mother nature had enough, she had already broken him, and the joke probably stopped being funny after a while.

''Get your shit together damnit'' he cleaned his tears as he said it, getting up.

''I'm here now, I choose to be here, I can't regret that decision, and if I'm going to survive, I better get used to this rain''.

He managed to get up and grab the wall

''I need to find some food, ASAP.''

He started feeling his way around the building, looking for a fridge, or a storage of some kind, the sun could only provide so much light, he decided to rely on his touch, he walls were humid, his fingers and hands scrapped off paint from the walls most of the time.

''Jackpot'' as soon as he touched a cold, flat metal surface, but there was a hint of doubt in his voice, and a hint of hope.

He fumbled the small metal box looking for a way to open it, he found a handle and as soon as he opened the door a foul stench of rot took over his nose.

''Oh man'' he said, placing his wet red T-shirt over his nose, the smell of LCL was better than the smell of rotting food any day of the week, even if it did remind him of blood.

''There must be something here that isn't rotten'' frustrated, fumbling around with his hands yet again, this time, inside the metal box, he felt a bunch of wrappers, snack bars by the looks of it, he grabbed as many as he could, not taking time to think if they were non-perishable, and he got out of there as fast as he could, his nose couldn't handle the combination of blood and rot.

As he got outside the building, near his little pool of rebirth, he took a deep breath and sighed.

''Will I ever get used to that smell?'' He grabbed some of the snack bars he had stuffed in his pockets and put them in a small bench, along with the ones he was still holding.

''Inee, Minee, Miny, Mo- oh fuck it'' he snatched one of the bars and began chewing it down like he hadn't eaten in days.

''Prune? Luck is not on my side today, how disgusting''.

He gazed at the city, the once glorious Tokyo-3, now reduced to rubble, a mear shell of it's former existence, a mere reminder that humanity once thrived, even during the worst of times.

''I should probably take mental notes, let's see here, I'm going to need water, actual food, shelter, a vehicle, a shower and a clean set of clothes''

''I can probably get the vehicle right away, I'm sure there's a parking lot near by.''

He stuffed the remaining snack bars in his pocket and began walking along the cracked cement path to the parking lot.

There were 4 parked cars, He picked a red citroen and grabbed a rock, he threw it through the window and opened the car from the inside.

He wiped the glass from the drivers seat and adjusted it to his personal preference, the rock he threw rested peacefully on the passengers seat.

''Buckle up''

''Wait, what am I doing, I don't know how to hot wire cars''

''Maybe...'' he looked for keys in the glove compartment.

''Eh, nothing, this was a stupid idea''

He took a quick look at the rock.

''I'll see you later Rocky, I gotta roll'' He said in a jokingly tone, he couldn't help it but to laugh at his own joke, there was no one else who could.

He got out of the car, it was getting dark, he had to find shelter fast, or else he'd have to walk around the obstacle filled city during the night.

After 10 minutes of walking, he stumbled upon an hotel.

''I guess this'll do, can't afford to be picky right now''

He got inside, realizing he didn't have any light he decided to add an other item to his mental shopping list.

''Flashlight and batteries''

He looked around the reception, fumbling through the balcony drawers, hoping that the receptionist would have kept some candles somewhere, or a lighter.

Dissapointed, he walked away, forced to rely on touch once again, he pressed his arm and hand against the wall and walked along it, expecting to find some stairs.

''I suppose there's no elevator working here, at least I found the stairs'' He slowly walked up the stairs, almost tripping once or twice, but at least he made it onto the first floor.

''Shit, I have no keys, again''

He felt a box on the wall

''Oh what's this?'' Upon further examination with his hand, he concluded it was either a fire extinguisher or an axe.

''Well let's find out'' he broke the fragile glass covering the rectangle box, he had a feeling it was red, they always are.

''An axe, nice'' He grabbed the axe's handle, it was a short metallic handle.

''Okay, now, to pick a place'' He walked up to the nearest door, and as he got a good feel on where the lock was, he took a deep breath and raised his axe, and let it fall down with all his strenght, up, and down, up, and down, until the thin wooden door surrounding the lock fell off, he gave the door a little push and walked in.

''Sorry for intruding, but I'll need to borrow your house for the night'' There was no one there to listen, but at least he was being polite about it, he let the axe rest on the small round table near the door, some letters had accumulated there, the previous owner was probably too busy to go through all the mail, so he just let them there.

The house had a neutral smell, it didn't exactly smell good, but at least it didn't smell like rot or blood, it was perfect.

''First thing's first'' he walked up to the bedroom, expecting to perhaps find a flashlight near the bed.

''Well, it is my lucky day'' He found this compact yellow flashlight, it emited enough light to let him walk freely around the house.

''Okay, now, let's see what the previous owner has stored for me'' he walked into the kitchen and began opening drawers and cabinet doors, he found a can of beans, a bunch of canned fruit, and some tuna, he picked them all up and left the items on top of the living room table.

''I should probably check if there's any running water''

He made his way to the bathroom, he slowly turned on the hot water tap for the shower head and awaited result.

The shower head started coughing, after 3 seconds a reddish-brown water started pouring down, the entire room smells like metal now.

''Oh well, guess a shower is out of the que-'' he was interrupted by an other violent cough from the shower head, this time, more violent, and it's lasting longer, he could feel the pipes just vibrating vigorously, he showerhead threatened to bring down the entire house.

After a minute the water come to a complete stop, and then it started rushing down again, this time, clean, transparent water came rushing down.

''Spoke too soon I guess''

He quickly stripped from his LCL stained clothes and began showering, the hot water drops hitting his body relaxed him, took his mind off of the apocalypse for a while, for now, all he could focus on is on how relaxed he is, and what kind of shampoo to use from all of those.

He settled on one that promised relaxation and a cool feel, at least it would help against the heat.

As soon as he got off and started drying himself, he looked himself in the mirror, he adjusted his dark brown hair, and looked himself in the eyes, he had this very dark brown eyes, above his left eye brow was a birth mark shapped like an S.

He was distracted for a minute, and then he realized he had no spare change of clothes.

''Hmmm... I'm sure he won't mind'' he made his way to the bedroom and took a look at the wardrobe, this light brown beast with a mirror on one of the doors, he opened it off and he took a dark grey shirt out, along with some matching pair of jeans, he rolled his newly acquired shirt sleeves up and turned it into a button T-shirt.

''Not too shabby'' he said, taking a look at himself in the mirror once again, afterwards he slowly made his way to the living room, the living room consisted on a couch, a table and a TV, not much else was needed.

''Uh, guess I'll have some of these beans, and uh, some peaches I guess''

After chowing down his meal and taking a nice gulp of water, he started feeling sleepy.

He lied down in the previous owners bed.

''You won't be needing this anymore, sorry''

He noticed something, a small box on top of the nightstand, upon opening it, a little tune started playing, it was a music box.

''Sarabande... BWV1010...''

The sky was clear, a typical summer sky, no clouds populated the sky, the lack of luminous pollution allowed for a beautiful starry, thousands of white dots of different sizes swarmed the sky, the pale, silver moon was the jewel of that beautiful sight, a light red line was covering the moon, and surrounding the earth, covering some stars like a red seductive veil.

The room he settled himself into was simple, white walls, pale brown wardrobe with a mirror on one of the doors, the desk next to the window was decorated only with paperwork, the bed he was lying in was a cozy singles bed with a pale yellow bed cover, the music box sitting on top of the small nightstand was a simple wooden square box with small mirrors on each side, the box had a small piece of paper inside, facing up.

''Never forget, I'll always be here''.

He closed his eyes, cuddled by the pale arms of the moonlight, thinking about the meaning behind that phrase, thinking about the previous owner of the house, wondering if it was okay for him to be there, in someone elses bed.

''Not today''.

He got up, and decided to sleep on the couch tonight, even though the owner of the house was no more, he felt like he was intruding.


	2. Allemande

''Attention all personnel, we have some very troubling news to deliver''

''Who died this time, hehe''

''Shush it Satou, it sounds important.''

''At 1200 Hours today we received reports that NERV, the organization in charge of protecting mankind from the invading angels, is planing on initiating their own third impact, effectively wiping out all life on earth.''

The news were indeed troubling, it took some time until the soldiers observed the news to full extent, suddenly an eruption of loud profanities came from the mouths of most soldiers, some didn't even believe it, hoping it was some kind of sick joke.

''THOSE BASTARDS, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS BULLSHIT'' screamed Takahashi at the top of his lungs, his face was red with rage, a not so unusual event coming from this short tempered Corporal.

''Calm down right now, that's an order, I will not tolerate disrespect, not even at a time like this'' the old man sounded angrier than the soldiers, his tone of authority restaured order, after a short moment the old man catched his breath and proceeded with his announcement.

''We have been given the mission to stop NERV at all cost, they must not succeed, the future of mankind rests in your hands, you shall be the saviours mankind, every single one of you will be a hero, your names will be engraved in history, you will all the remembered as the men who stopped the biggest catastrophy in past 15 years from happening.''

The soldiers were rallied by the old mans speech, the thought of saving the world, of becoming heroes, every single soldier in the vicinity though about it.

''At 1330 hundred hours we move out and wait further orders on site, take your time to call your loved ones, and remember, the worlds depends on us, we shall not fail.'' The soldiers cheered and began rushing towards the telephone booths, excited, ready to call their loved ones and tell them the news.

A man in his 30's approached Nakai, he had a characteristic buzz cut with a little scar on his upper forehead, it was a typical jarhead look. ''You coming to grab some lunch Nakai?''

''Yeah of course, shouldn't you be calling your wife or something Seki?''

''Have you seen those booths? They're full, they've started enforcing a 2 minute limit per call, I'll try them again once they're empty, what about you Nakai, shouldn't you be calling your family or something?''

Nakai shrugged ''I'll call them after the mission.''

Seki let out a nervous laugh ''Are you even sure we'll succeed? I mean, they got to be well armed, and they've probably been planning this from the start''

They both started walking towards the lunch hall

''Yeah, but we've got the element of surprise, they probably don't know we're onto them, and they just can't have more armed personnel than the entire JSSDF army, besides, we can't fail, and we won't.'' Nakai stated, sounding extremely confident.

''I guess you have a point'' Seki let out an other laugh, this time a more casual laugh ''Its unusual to see you being so positive about things''

Nakai shrugged again ''We don't really have a choice, do or die and all that.''

They arrived at the infamous lunch hall, a large ammount of tables and benches lined together in multiple rows, looking more like a prison than anything else.

''This place looks a lot more depressing when it's empty'' Nakai observed, there were only about 30 or 40 people there at the moment, either following Seki's strategy and waiting so the booths would empty up, or they're just too hungry to care

They both grabbed a tray and we're served the usual barely edible mixture the people there called ''food'' and took a seat next to a window, clowds filled up the sky like small puffy cotton strings, they began chowing down until they were interrupted by a loud metalic noise coming from their side.

''Oh, hey Takahashi, glad to see you're subtle and quiet as usual'' Nakai said jokingly ''I'm guessing you're still pretty mad about this entire situation, aren't you?''

''Oh you damn right I am, after all this time we STILL can't trust our own kind, damnit we survived the angels, hell, THEY stopped the angels, and now they just want to throw everything out the window and say simply say ''Hey guys, screw this let's just destroy the world ourselves, that'll be real fuckin' neato, forget about all the lives that were lost during this conflict, or the money and time that was spent, it's nothing.''

''Why would they want to end the world anyway? I have no idea what they have to gain with killing everybody'' Seki interrupted Takahashi's rant ''There's no such thing as money and power when the everyone dies''

''Who knows? Maybe they're just fucking psychotic and have extreme homicidal tendencies, that'd explain why they stopped the angels, they want to have the pleasure of killing everybody themselves, bunch of two-faced sons of bitches''

''Settle down Takahashi, and lower your tone, you're starting to attract unwanted attention, and the last thing we need before an operation is an army of frustrated, undisciplined soldiers just looking to comit mistakes, calm down and focus'' Seki said in a concerned tone

''Fine fine, let's just eat I'm starving'' he began chowing down his food, looking like he hadn't eaten in 3 days.

An other person joined the company of the 3 soldiers.

''Hey, how's everyone doin' today?'' A tanned young man sat next to Seki.

''Oh, hey Ando, we're mostly good, what about you?'' Nakai said, sounding rather bored, perhaps at the lack of actual conversation at the table, he started playing around with the pieces of rice in his tray.

''I'm feeling pumped, we're gonna save the world and all that.'' Ando said, definitely sounding and looking excited, he put a piece of food in his mouth and an expression of disgust overwhelmed his face ''Oh god this food is awful, we're about to go save the world and they feed us this crap?''

''You still haven't gotten used to the food here?'' Takahashi said, his tray had been completely cleaned.

''You're taking the whole hero act a bit too seriously, we're just doing our job once again, except it's slightly more important now an-'' he was cut off by Ando

''Slightly more important? Dude all we've done these last few months was distract the angels for a little while until NERV could just send in those robot to actually hurt those things'' He tried to put some more food in his mouth, that expression of disgust was still there.

''Will you let me finish? Sure it's important, that's why we don't need overexcited rookies out there getting themselves killed, some people might think you make good cannon fodder but I'm not letting anyone kill themselves over their stupidity, not on my watch, remember your still green and keep focused''

''Hey, I'm no rookie, I can handle myself'' Ando said, defensively, this was a battle he wasn't ready to fight.

''Tell me Ando, have you ever shot a man?''

He wasn't ready for that question.

''I-I-I had plenty of target practice, I have pretty good aim and I-'' this time he was the one getting cut off

''That wasn't my question, my question was, have you ever shot a man? Because shooting a man isn't the same thing as shooting at a target, the target doesn't have a soul, a family, the target doesn't think, and, the target can't shoot you back if you mess up'' Seki said, looking the rookie right in the eyes, a cold severe stare.

''No... I'm sorry'' Ando muttered out, staring at his tray, playing around with his food.

''Good, keep in mind we aren't fighting angels here, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to call my wife, this place is starting to get full so the lines might actually be smaller now'' Seki excused himself and left the table, he was right, the place was starting to get full, the rest of the soldiers had only just noticed it, they were too focused on Seki's little speech, or perhaps their food, an other soldier came to take his place.

''Hey guys, what's going on here?'' Sasaki, a man in his 20's wearing some glasses, looked like he hadn't shaved in a few weeks, he sat down in the previously occupied seat and began eating some of his food

''The usual'' Takahashi replied, eyeing Ando's plate, just a second away from asking the infamous ''Are you gonna eat that?''

''Just take it'' Ando pushed the tray forward, he looked like he was about to puke all over the table.

''Hey, are you alright? You look kind of green'' Nakai questioned, the last statement came out more like a joke.

''Yeah, I'm just not used to this food yet''

''Ya know, after a while it won't even taste that bad, it's actually kind of good now'' Takahashi said, still stuffing himself with the rookie's food.

''Well, I'm not really looking forward to the death of my taste buds'' Ando replied jokingly.

''Hey Takahashi, take it easy on the food, it's almost time for the mission, you don't want to get stuffed, we don't want to drag you while you puke all over the place'' Sasaki adviced, he looked more like the doctor type than the soldier type, he was definetely an intelectual guy.

''Attention all personnel, we move out in 10 minutes, get ready''

''Already?'' Sasaki said, looking at his still almost full tray ''Man I just started eating'' he began chowing down as fast as he could, but then stopped when he realized eating that fast would probably take its toll later on.

''Yeah this'll do'' he pushed the tray forward ''You guys ready?''

''We're always ready'' said Takahashi.

They all got up and began walking towards the barracks, along the way chatting and thinking about how well defended was NERV, and wondering if most people actually knew what their goal was.

They got to the locker rooms and began putting on their black bodysuits and a light vest, they topped it off with the usual combination of helmet + goggles, some choose to wear a black balaclava to protect their face, but a little mask isn't going to help against actual bullets, so most choose to be more comfortable.

The armor doesn't provide that much protection either, but it does favour mobility over protection, but the JSSDF have the advantage on this one, better mobility, better equipment, considering NERV isn't prepared for human combat, they're more experienced and organized, and, the JSSDF have superior numbers.

''Let's get to the Humvee, not long until we move out'' Seki ordered.

''Hey Seki, didn't see you there, did you manage to call your wife yet?'' Nakai question

''No, guess nobody was home, she must have been doing some shopping or something, now let's go, they ain't going to wait for us''

He started walking, it didn't take long until the rest of the group started following him.

Sasaki approached him, and put a hand on his shoulder ''I bet she's alright, no need to be worried about it''

Seki smilled ''Thanks Sasaki, but I wasn't too worried about it, it's not the first time she doesn't answer the phone''

Sasaki smilled bad ''Good to know''

They got to the Humvees and took their seat, and not a moment too soon.

''All personnel move out, you will be given your drop off points in a moment''

''Guess it's time to buckle up'' Ando said.

Takahashi started driving, carefully placing himself in the middle of the flood of humvees.

''Man I've never seen so many vehicles leaving this place at once, jesus christ just at it, I can barely move'' he said, sounding rather frustrated

''Try to stay focused, don't want us to die before we even get to the damned place now do you?'' Sasaki said, trying to reassure him

''Guess not, where do you guys think we'll be deployed anyways?''

''They'll probably need every single soldier inside the actual facility, the real question is, what will we do when we get there?'' Nakai said, breaking his silence spree

''Sergeant Seki, do you copy over'' A voice in the radio interrupted them before they could answer the question.

''Guess we'll find out soon enough'' Seki said as he picked up the microphone and pushed the switch ''This is Sergeant Seki, what are our orders over'' he let go of the switch.

''Just hope we get to do something exciting and not just guard the entrances or something'' Sasaki said in a rather bored tone.

''Never thought you'd like to actually fight doc', only times I've seen you you were helping other soldiers with their recovery'' Ando observed

''Well, helping people is rewarding, but sitting in the back for months doing nothing but watch gets kind of boring after a while an-'' he was interrupted by the radio

''Listen up sergeant'' A different voice, a more rugged voice, emerged from the radio ''I want you and your fireteam to deploy near South-Eastern entrance, and one more thing, your assignment is to find Shinji Ikari and eliminate him on sight, he must be stopped from getting to the Eva's at all costs, over.''

''Yes sir'' Seki let go of the microphone button once again ''So we're supposed to kill a kid, uh? I guess it can't be helped'' he sounded rather dissapointed.

''I thought I'd be shaking the kids hand when I met him, not putting a bullet through his skull'' Nakai said, sounding rather melancholic ''So now we're told to kill the kid who's been saving our asses all this time, well I guess NERV will be using him and the other pilots to reach their goal.''

''The kid's a hero... but if they're gonna be usin' him to kill us all, we can't let him live'' Ando said ''What bothers me the most is that he probably doesn't even know what their goal, and that's just wrong, kid isn't to blame for this, we should do something like, I dunno' recruit him or somethin', tell him what their goal is and get him to he-'' He was interrupted by Seki

''It doesn't matter, we've been given our orders, if we don't complete our objective we'll be seen as deserters, we'd probably been executed on site if we were caught, and even if we don't like it we got to kill the kid, it's a shame, but it's our objective.'' Seki said, sounding authoritative, with a hint of grief behind his words ''Are we clear?''

''Yes Sergeant'' Ando said, visibly upset with his orders.

The ride to the entrance was a short, silent one, in a short while they were there, they stopped a few meters and took cover near the nearby trees, along with other teams there.

''Listen up ladies, our orders are to sit here until command gives us the all clear, after that they'll start bombing the whole area, destroying every detection system they have, after that we rush through the entrance, we already got a man inside, there is very little resistence along the way and only one guard protecting the entrance, our man is going to take him out and we'll open the entrances, are we clear?'' said a man wearing a black beret, definitely a high ranking officer, perhaps a captain

''Yes sir'' the men said, there were probably enough men there to consider that entire group a company, they lied down near the trees, camouflaged themselves as best and they could and awaited for the all go, tension was in the air.

The phone rang, after a short talk the captain announced ''Show time ladies, move out''

The sound of explosions, missiles, tanks firing and moving, aircraft flying, all of them poluted the air, the soldiers started converging on the entrance, the gates were still closed, and just before anyone could ask how long it would take to open them, a scream of pain was heard and the gates opened, lying in front of it was a soldier with a knife on his hand, bloodied, and a dead NERV security guard on the ground, bleeding to his death.

The soldiers flooded the halls, figthing erupted everywhere, it didn't take long enough until NERV got pushed back, the JSSDF was well trained at figthing human targets.

''This way'' Seki ordered his men through an other hallway inorder to avoid heavy figthing ''There should be less men along this path'' the fireteam started following him.

''Where the hell are we supposed to find this kid anyways?'' Takahashi questioned, sounding annoyed as usual ''You don't suppose he'll just throw himself in front of us now do you?''

''We've been told to search the parking areas, I spoke with the other teams in charge of finding him'' Seki answered, in an authoritive manner.

''The parking area?'' Nakai laughed ''I guess they want to kill the kid themselves, fine with me''

There were a bunch of security guards barricaded in the hallway, their barricade consisted of a bunch of vending machines pushed to the side, they opened fire as soon as they spotted the team.

''Frag out'' Sasaki announced, pulling off the pin and throwing the grenade like a baseball around the corner, a scream was heard followed by an explosion, nothing was left but a bunch of mangled carcases mixed with rubble and pieces of vending machine.

''Move'' Seki ordered, taking the lead and trying to not step on the pieces of flesh.

''Don't you think the grenade was a little extreme?'' Ando said, looking rather disgusted by the sight of human flesh ''Geez there's nothin' left but flesh''

''We don't time to mess around, first time seeing mangled bodies?'' Sasaki questioned

''Yeah, not a sight for sore eyes is it?'' Ando said, stepping on what looks like an arm, or what used to be an arm ''Shit''

''You know, back when I served as a simple medic, I'd get soldiers looking like this all the time, I don't even know why they sent them to me, basically pieces of flesh, just lying on a table waiting for me to consider them dead, idiots, can't they tell he's dead already?''

They continued moving along with halls, the entire place looked like it was a maze.

Gunshots were heard from behind, and before any one could do anything about it there was a casualty already

''ANDO'' Seki screamed, pulling the young boy out of fire, dragging his body into cover ''Shit shit shit, talk to me boy, are you alright? Damn it speak, SASAKI, is there anything you can do to save him?''

''He's been shot through the spine, he can't move, I still have a pulse but it looks like the kid's in shock, there's nothing we can do, sorry Seki.'' Sasaki felt the boys neck, the boy was certainly still alive, there was this look on his face, like he could feel everything that was going around him, like he was perfectly aware he was dying, but he just couldn't do anything about it.

''I'm sorry... there's nothing we can do about you Ando... shit I'm so sorry... it's not your fault, it wasn't a mistake, there was just nothing you could have done about it, but you'll go down as a hero, your parents would be proud about you boy'' he held the boy in his arms, whispering these words in his ear ''I never doubted you for one minute, you were a pain in the ass sometimes, but you were a good soldier'' as soon as he finished that sentence, the boy closed his eyes, savoring the moment, appreciating the words of praise he always wanted to hear.

The firefight stopped, both Takahashi and Nakai walked over to the three soldiers taking cover.

''That little team has been eliminated how's Ando?'' Nakai questioned, kneeling down, he already knew the answer to his question.

''Dead'' Sasaki said ''Poor kid never stood a chance, shot through the spine, lost control of his legs right away, not sure if he'd make it even with proper medical treatment''

''Let's not let his sacrifice go in vain'' Takahashi said, reloading his G11

''Let's move out, we still need to find that kid'' Seki got up, leaving the boys body there ''We can't take his body with us, we'll just have to collect his body once this entire thing is over''

''I'm sorry Seki, I know how much you car-''

''Doesn't matter if you're sorry right now, I just want to complete the mission and give the kid a proper burial, now if you don't mind, let's move out'' Seki interrupted, looking Nakai in the eye with a cold stare, the stare of a man who just saw his comrade die in battle.

''I think they're onto us'' Sasaki observed ''I think they know we're after one of the pilots, and if they're sending out death squads to try to stop us that probably means we're close enough t-'' He was quickly interrupted by an other barrage of gun fire, an other team sent out to stop them.

''DAMN IT'' Nakai shouted, getting to cover and sitting against a wall putting his hands on his leg as fast as he could, shouting ''I NEED SOMETHING TO STOP THE BLEEDING DOC''

Sasaki pulled out a bandage out of his backpack and threw it at Nakai ''Use this, well take a close look when I-'' he ducked, luckily avoiding an other barrage of gun fire ''When we take out these bastards''

Nakai began wrapping the bandage around his leg as tightly and as fast as he could, biting on the handle of his knife to make some of the pain go away ''Oh geez I'm bleeding pretty badly here doc, is there anything I can do to stop this bleeding?''

''Tie some of the bandage above the wound as tight as you can, it'll feel like your leg is being crushed to death but it'll save you'' Sasaki answered, stopping to reload and began firing again.

A shout of pain was heard, not from Nakai but from the last remaining NERV security guard, the soldiers walked up to Nakai, Sasaki kneeled down to inspect the wound

''You alright son? Can't lose two friends in a single day now can I?'' Seki said

Nakai laughed a little ''I live, not like I-'' his face tightened in pain ''Not like I got shot that badly''

''Is he alright Sasaki?'' Takahashi question

''He said so himself, he'll live, the bullet went right through him, although he won't be able to walk, he'll have to sit here for a while until we can get him evac'd out of here'' Sasaki got up.

''We can't just leave him here like this, he'll be killed!'' Takahashi shouted ''He's like a damn sitting duck''

''We don't have a change'' Seki said, turning away from the soldiers, hiding the look on his face

''Just kill me'' Nakai said, looking up to the soldiers ''That way I won't be tortured, or worse, this wound hurts enough as it is, you'd be doing me a favor''

The request shocked she soldiers, silence settled in for a few seconds.

''No'' Seki turned around ''I won't let you kill yourself, I won't let you die either, so you know what? You're going to sit your ass here and wait until we get back, and don't even think of shooting yourself, damn it.'' he kneeled down, he was now face to face with Nakai ''I'm not losing 2 friends in one day, so if you can't walk you better do everything you can to stay alive until we get you evac'd, okay?''

Nakai looked away, he couldn't lie to a friend, he couldn't let a friend down ''Fine, but don't blame me if I get caught by an other team of those security guards'' he smirked a little.

''Good, I expect to see you in one piece when I get back'' Seki said as he got up ''Let's move out''

''Good luck Nakai'' Takahashi said.

The soldiers went on ahead and left Sakai with his own thoughts.

''Well this is interesting, I'm injured, sitting in a NERV hall just waiting until I get caught and killed by any security guard that just happens to find me... well I guess it serves me right, most people here probably have no idea they're working for the devil, and here we are just mindlessly slaughtering them, we've even been given the all-clear to shoot everybody, doesn't matter who they are, if they're armed or surrending, they'll just be shot down, disgusting'' He took a deep breath and sighed.

''It's not that I'm doing any better, they're following orders, just like me, if I had a choice I'd rather not kill everyone in this facility, only the people in charge, or everyone who knows about NERV's true intentions'' He put his hand on his leg, thinking it'd ease the pain ''These people probably have a family to get back to, just thinking of how many kids are going to grow up without a father today... damn...''

He rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes, taking an other deep breath ''I better not fall asleep'' he opened his eyes again, nothing but an empty hall ''Man it's boring h-'' he was interrupted by mechanical sounds, he readied his weapon ''What was that? Water? No... it's -'' he stopped saying it as soon as he realized what was coming his way.

He tried moving, but his leg wouldn't let him, he dragged himself as fast as he could, screaming all the way ''NO NO NO'', he was about to be swallowed by a flood of bakelite, and he couldn't do anything about it, as soon as he felt it getting closer, touching his legs he started screaming on top of his lungs, fear and angst in one single scream, he couldn't move anymore, his legs were stuck and now the rest of his body was going to be surrounded by bakelite, he was still screaming, trying to move, but it didn't matter anymore, his entire torso was stuff.

It didn't take too long until his head was covered, his lungs were filled with the crimson red liquid, breathing was impossible now, as the bakelite solidified the bone shattering weight over his body increased, but he didn't feel it for too long, he had already drowned, if you can even call it that, drowned in bakelite.

A painful, gruesome death indeed.


End file.
